India defeat Bangladesh in Chittagong Test by 113 runs
Chittagong (Bangladesh): India on Thursday won the first Test against Bangladesh here by 113 runs. Chasing an improbable 414 runs for victory, Bangladesh were bowled out
for 301. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra and fast bowler Ishant Sharma were the main wicket
takers, grabbing seven of the ten to fall. The only resistance from the Bangladesh
team was provided by Tamim Iqbal, who scored 52 and Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored
101.Mishra snared four wickets, while Sharma grabbed three. India won the Test
despite a poor first innings score of 243. It made amends by scoring 413 in the
second innings, leaving Bangladesh 414 to chase in the final innings. In the end,
it was the batsmen who let the Bangladesh bowlers down. In the final innings,
none of the batsmen showed either the aptitude or the inclination to bat out long
periods on a flat pitch and on a day where bad light was bound to cut the day
short. Bangladesh captain Shakib-ul-Hasan said: "We didn't bat well in the first
innings. That led to our downfall. We played too many rash shots outside the off
stump, we need to work on it. We thought we had a good chance to take a lead,
but hopefully next time we'll be better. We need to improve on our catching and
batting. Mushfiqur is always capable of scoring hundreds and he did today." Indian
captain Virender Sehwag said: "Our bowlers did a fantastic job, Zaheer and Ishant
especially, after getting bowled out for 243. Ishant bowled really quick and got
some good bounce. It was a good pitch, nice carry, turn and bounce and three players
also got hundreds. We have to play good cricket and if we do that, we can easily
win the next match." Tendulkar, who received a memento for reaching 13,000 runs
in Tests and also the Man of the Match award for his century in the first innings,
said: "This was an important one because we lost wickets after a good opening
partnership. The lower order supported well; we lost six wickets between lunch
and tea and that put a bit of pressure on us. The track was a little sticky, the
Bangladesh bowlers bowled well. Or bowlers fought back nicely and Gautam, like
he has done in the recent past, scored another hundred. The 40-50 runs in the
first innings at the end were crucial and the last three batsmen chipped in with
valuable runs. Ishant was fantastic, he's got into good rhythm and we look forward
to him delivering again in the next match." The score is as follows: India 243
(Tendulkar 105, Sehwag 52, Shakib 5-62, Shahadat 5-71) and 413 for 8 dec. (Gambhir
116, Laxman 69, Mishra 50) beat Bangladesh 242 (Mahmudullah 69, Zaheer 3-54, Mishra
3-66) and 301 (Mushfiqur 101, Tamim 52, Mishra 4-92, Ishant 3-48) by 113 runs.
